This invention provides an improved means for securely attaching an object, such as a parking meter housing, lamp fixture, coin or collection box or other electrical or mechanical device to a hollow post, pipe or conduit, under conditions where the object is subject or vulnerable to theft or vandalism, yet must be easily removed for repair or maintenance by its owner or authorized employees.
Conventional devices used for this purpose include an expanding anchor nut and wedge assembly similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,273 to Ward. When a bolt is tightened down on the nut of this device, the assembly expands, causing wedges to press against the inside walls of a hollow post, holding the parking meter assembly to the post by friction. This device has been known to fall prey to determined parking meter thieves equipped with sledge hammers, heavy pipes or the like. Sharp upward impacts will succeed in removing the meter assembly from the post. The wedge device simply does not provide a sufficiently secure attachment under these circumstances.
It has been attempted to strengthen the wedge type attachment of parking meters to their posts by drilling a small diameter hole through the post and into a portion of the meter head extending downward into the post, and then driving a pin through the wall of the post and into the meter head. This, however, added little strength to the connection. The small diameter of the pin, combined with its position in only one side of the post, still allowed the removal of the meter head by a well equipped and determined criminal. Moreover, in order for an authorized attendant to remove the meter head from its post, the pin had to be driven into the center of the meter head or, if that was not possible, the meter head had to be cut from the post.
Moreover, wedging type devices are generally not reusable, as when one loosens and removes the bolt from the device in order to remove the meter assembly for repair or replacement, the wedge device often falls to the bottom of the hollow post, which is cemented to the ground. In that case, the several pieces of the device are normally not recoverable by any practical means. When the wedging device does not fall down into the post upon removal of the bolt, it is often because the device has rusted and has therefore become frozen in its expanded position. Also, the relatively weak nut of this wedging assembly often splits or cracks upon the bolt having been tightened upon it, and is thus not reusable. Finally, these wedging devices, having several interconnected moving parts made of various materials, are relatively expensive to manufacture.
Another wedging type device which requires a noncylindrical post is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,463 to Attwood. That is an impractical solution, in that, for practical and economic reasons, posts serving in this capacity must be, and uniformly are, of the cylindrical type.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,406 to Winsor discloses a solid metal capture cylinder which fits inside a post at its upper end. A double headed locking pin fits through a transverse bore in the capture cylinder, its heads each resting within one of two diametrically opposed holes in either side of the post, which holes are aligned with the bore. The diameter of the pin heads are approximately the same as the diameter of the holes in the post within which they rest, but the diameter of the central portion of the pin is less than that of the heads, the holes in the post, and the bore of the capture cylinder. Thus, when a clamping bolt inserted downward from the meter head and threaded into the top of the capture cylinder is tightened, the capture cylinder is drawn upward, moving relative to the locking pin due to the differential shift created by the varying diameters of the bore and the central section of the pin. The pin is then secured within the post and the capture cylinder, prevented from sideways withdrawal, due to the partially offset positions of the pin heads and the bore of the capture cylinder. This is a relatively complicated and expensive means for securing a meter head to a post. Its installation is difficult and time consuming. It is not known that the device was ever commercially used or practically applied.
Another device for attaching a parking meter head to a post is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,311,242 to Michaels. A pin having tapered ends is inserted into diametrically opposed openings in a post by lowering it into the top of the post, angling the pin to insert one of its ends into one of the holes, and then leveling the pin to insert its other end into the opposing opening of the post. The meter head is then placed on top of the post, and a bolt from the meter head is threaded into a vertical opening in the central enlarged portion of the pin. A cylinder extending downward from the meter head and having an inside diameter slightly larger than the outside diameter of the post extends down far enough to cover the exposed ends of the pin to secure against its removal or tampering. The use of the pin disclosed in Michaels requires that the spider or other bottom portion of the meter head through which the bolt is inserted extend no farther down into the post than would permit the manual reach required to insert the pin from the top of the post. The design of the pin disclosed in Michaels requires insertion from the opening in the top of the post. Due to its taper and varying diameters, it cannot be inserted through the diametrically opposed openings in the post, from outside the post. The pin must be of a diameter great enough to receive a substantially large and strong bolt at the center, yet be of a small enough diameter at the ends to permit its installation in the post from the inside, as disclosed, and at an angle. Moreover, without the protective sleeve which covers the ends of the pin when installed in the post, the pin would be subject to tampering from the outside. Yet, the protective sleeve, installed with the meter head prior to inserting and tightening the bolt as disclosed in Michaels, prevents the installer from maintaining or adjusting the rotational position of the pin so that its threaded opening points vertically toward the bolt and can receive it. Finally, the reduced, tapered ends of the pin, required to permit the pin to be installed into the openings in the post from the inside, one at a time and at an angle, reduces the overall strength of the securing mechanism. The varying stages of lathing make the tapered pin a relatively expensive one to manufacture.
The present invention provides a means for securing an object to a hollow post or pipe which prevents theft of the object by removal from the post, while providing a device which is cheaply made, easy to install, reusable and compatible with the post and parking meter head designs presently used by most municipalities.
The present invention utilizes a bar which can be made of a strong material such as hardened steel and which can have a cross dimension great enough to provide the strength needed to prevent the unauthorized forcible removal of a valuable meter head or other object by a strong individual using a heavy duty sledge hammer or other heavy swinging tool. The transverse disposition of the bar in the hollow post or pipe in that both of its ends are or can be disposed within openings in the wall of the pipe, adds substantial strength to the attachment of the object to the pipe in that the bar cannot be urged from its substantially transverse position by bending or angling out of one opening which could otherwise be caused by the upward impacts of the vandal""s tool.
The bar can be inexpensively machined from round stock stainless steel without further lathing of its diameter and with minimum steps and labor. In the preferred embodiment of this invention, the stock stainless steel need only be cut to a predetermined length, a transverse bore drilled in it and threaded and its ends curved to the proper radius using a cutting or grinding tool. A countersink is preferably formed at the opening of the threaded bore to guide the bolt being manually inserted by the installer. The cost of manufacturing this bar is nearly one-third the cost of manufacturing the wedging type device now in use in most municipalities.
This invention can easily be installed to secure an object to a hollow post or pipe or to replace the existing mode of attachment of the object and reattach it more securely to the post. In the preferred embodiment of this invention, a round hole of the approximate diameter of the cylindrical bar is transversely drilled through the central axis of the pipe sufficiently below any lower portion of the object extending down into the pipe yet near enough the object to enable the fastener, such as a threaded bolt, to reach the bar. The bar can then be installed in the pipe by inserting it through one of the drilled openings in the side of the pipe until its inserted end engages an alteration in the inside surface of the pipe opposite the opening, in the preferred embodiment, another opening of the same size and shape. The object, for example, a parking meter head, is then placed on top of the pipe. A bolt or other fastener, aligned generally in an axial direction with respect to the hollow post or pipe, is then passed through a secured access such as a locked vault door and inserted into a hole in the bottom of the meter head. The bolt is then aligned with the transverse opening in the bar and drawn down, tightening the assembly and securing the meter head to the post. In the preferred embodiment of this invention, the bar is then rotationally aligned so that its transverse bore is positioned to receive the securing bolt, and a sleeve is placed over the post prior to placement of the meter head on the post.
The securing means of this invention permits the easy removal of the meter head or other object for repair or replacement, while avoiding damage to the post or object in the process and allowing reuse of the bar and securing bolt. When the meter head is removed by loosening the bolt using a wrench or other tool passed through the vault door, the bar remains held in the side openings of the post, where it can be recovered by the attendant. Its construction from a single, solid piece of stainless or galvanized steel or other corrosion resistant and durable material permits its reuse under conditions where its predecessors failed.
Most parking meter heads in use in the United States today are attached to a cylindrical hollow post or pipe which is embedded in a concrete sidewalk. The integral bottom portion of the meter head extends approximately 2xc2xc inches down into the top opening of the pipe. Through an opening in the bottom portion of the meter head is passed a bolt, which threads into the nut of a wedge type expansion assembly of the type discussed previously in connection with the background of this invention. The bar of this invention can easily be transversely disposed within the pipe in a position allowing sufficient clearance for the downward extending bottom portion of the meter head in that the bar is inserted through a side opening in the pipe, rather than through the top opening, which is generally too far away from the required position of the bar to be reached manually by the installer.
The parking meter post design currently in use in the United States also often incorporates an outer sleeve having an inside diameter slightly larger than the outside diameter of the post, so that the sleeve can be slipped over the post prior to attachment of the meter head. The sleeve, having a length approximating the exposed length of the post extending from the surface of the sidewalk to the base of the meter head, rests on the surface of the sidewalk and adds security to the attachment of the meter head to the post by covering any additional securing pin driven through a side of the post and into the body of the meter head and by preventing the removal of the meter head by use of a pipe cutter on the post: the outer sleeve rotates around the post with the pipe cutter, resisting being severed by the rotating pipe cutter, and generally provides another steel layer against cutting or breaking. In the preferred embodiment of this invention, the curved ends of the bar cooperate with the outer sleeve to substantially impede rotation of the bar after its insertion in the post so that the threaded bore is maintained substantially axially aligned to receive the threaded bolt. The curved shape of the ends of the bar also have the benefit of permitting the maximum length of the bar to be disposed within the walls of the post without protruding beyond its outside surface or when closely surrounded by such a sleeve, in turn maximizing the holding strength of the bar in the post. This latter benefit is thus also realized In embodiments of this invention which contemplate the use of a fastener other than a threaded bolt to secure the object to the bar and hence the post, such as a hooked or xe2x80x9cjxe2x80x9d bolt or other fastening device.